When Stephanie Evans decided to send her children to Oxford Preparatory Academy, a public charter school, instead of their local middle school this year, she didn't much consider its requirement for students to wear uniforms.

But now, Evans acknowledges that she did not anticipate how much her family would come to embrace Oxford's distinctive teal plaid attire.

“They actually love it. I was kind of surprised,” said Evans, noting how her two children – Holden, 13, and Hennessey, 12 – are happy with their school's teal, white and black uniforms, which vary from formal looks with button-down shirts and ties to more casual polo shirts.

For Evans, a working mom, school uniforms have simplified the morning routine and taken off any pressure to wear the hottest brands.

“I don't hear a whole lot of, ‘I need this and I need that.' You don't have the distraction of this name-brand thing,” Evans said. “It's a lot less complicated.”

“We know that a school uniform policy can help reduce instances of classroom discipline and bullying, as well as improve student safety and attendance,” said Gail Connelly, executive director of the National Association of Elementary School Principals. “The use of school uniforms, whether in public or private schools, has a powerful influence on school culture in ways that contribute to greater levels of student achievement.”

In Orange County, the use of uniforms in private and parochial schools is common, though uniforms at public schools are not so widespread.

The Santa Ana Unified School district passed a mandatory K-8 uniform policy in 1996, and Orange Unified gives individual school sites the option of adopting their own uniform policies. Other districts, like Saddleback Valley Unified, have no schools with uniforms.

Kelli Keller, principal of Fairhaven Elementary in Santa Ana, said her school has opted to incorporate the school's college-bound focus into their uniforms. The phrase “I'm going to college and Fairhaven is my first step” is printed on select style shirts.

“I believe that for many parents it simplifies things,” said Keller, who said she does not strongly favor or oppose the use of uniforms. “It's one less thing for students to focus on and parents to worry about.”

Nicol Jones, a Villa Park resident whose three children attend schools in Orange Unified, said she is a big fan of the school uniforms at Cerro Villa Middle School. She said it evens out the socioeconomic dynamics at a school, which draws from diverse neighborhoods.

“The middle school years are so difficult. Having uniforms really levels the playing field for them and puts the focus on academics,” Jones said.

Cerro Villa adopted uniforms 18 years ago. The uniforms consist of a polo shirt from a choice of colors and navy blue bottoms, which can't be denim. Several of the elementary schools that feed into it also have uniform policies.

Jones was so impressed with Cerro Villa's uniforms that last year, as the PTO president of Villa Park Elementary, she brought forward a proposal to introduce uniforms there.

Supporting parents said uniforms would minimize classroom distractions, promote school pride and make the school safer since outsiders could be readily identified.

The proposed uniforms would have cost about $9 to $13 per shirt.

But other parents disagreed, saying uniforms would create bigger laundry loads since children change into a new outfit when they get home. Others raised concerns about comfort and style, or questioned the time and effort it would take school officials to enforce the uniform policy.

When Villa Park's parents voted on uniforms, they were split “an even 50-50 down to a single vote,” Jones said. Without a strong majority in favor, the principal decided not to adopt a uniform policy.

Beth Cipres was one Villa Park Elementary parent who voted against school uniforms, in part because her fifth-grade son Jake begged her not to.

“From my kids' standpoint, it's freedom of expression. They already have so many things dictated to them – what games they can play on the playground, what books they can read in class. Everything is so structured for little kids, and I felt like this was one more thing,” Cipres said.

As a parent with students in three public schools, one with uniforms, Cipres said she has not found that uniforms necessarily reduce the need for clothes shopping.

She still had to buy weekend clothes all year round, jeans and special-occasion clothes in winter, and then a whole summer wardrobe at the end of the school year.

“It felt like I was constantly having to buy clothes for my kids,” she said.

California law puts parameters upon how school uniforms can be used in public schools, said Brendan Hamme, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. Schools can require students to wear a uniform, but families who cannot afford a uniform must be provided with resources to purchase one and families must be given the option of not participating.

“A school district must allow a student's parents to opt out and can't retaliate against the student if they do,” Hamme said, noting that public schools whose policies have gender-specific dress codes might also violate the law.

Oxford Preparatory Academy, a public charter school, included in its charter a requirement that students wear uniforms.

The school uses Vicki Marsha Uniforms, a Huntington Beach company known for outfitting Catholic schools and other private schools around the region.

It was Vicki Marsha's original owner, Camille Crook, who helped create the modern look of “the Catholic schoolgirl” when she designed a gingham plaid jumper in 1952 for the nuns at a local Catholic School, owner Diane Cologne said.

Today, Vicki Marsha manufactures uniforms for a wide range of schools, including Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Rosary High School in Fullerton, Carden Hall in Newport Beach and the Christ Cathedral Academy in Orange. Customers spend an average of $80 to $120 per student annually on uniforms, Cologne said.

Evans said she spent about $350 equipping both children with their formal and casual uniforms, including button-down shirts, ties, sweaters, polo shirts, shorts, pants, skirts and matching tennis shoes.

“I didn't think it was any more expensive than if we had done our usual back-to-school shopping,” she said.

Despite any misgivings they might have once had, the whole family is now on board with uniforms, she said. Her husband even remarked to her that Hennessey seems “different” when he puts on the uniform.

“I think they feel smarter somehow, like they know they've got to take (school) more seriously,” she said. “He puts it on and it's not goofing around time.”

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